Vending-machine.



J. W. MABIN.

VENDING MACHINE.

' APPLICATION FILED JUNE 6, 1912. 1,085,747. Patented Feb. 3, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

} INvEmToR co unmm PLANOGRAPH C0-,\\'ASH1NGTON. r). c.

J. W. MABIN.

' VENDING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 6, 1912.

Patented Feb. 3, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WrrNEssEs.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH C0,. WASHINGTON. n. c.

J. W. MABIN.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 6, 1912.

1,085,747. Patented Feb. 3, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

J. W. MABIN.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 6, 191 2.

Patented Feb. 3, 1914.

4 SHEETfi-SHEET 4.

UNITED secs ATENT JOHN W. MABIN, or RED WING, MiNNEso'rA, ASSIGNOR. 'ro CHARLES A. HAGER, or BAY CITY, .WISCONSIN.

VENDING- MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 3, 191%.

Application filed June 6, 1912. Serial No. 702,037.

To all 10710111. 2 2 may concern \Ving, in the county of Goodhue and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements 1n Vending-Machines,

of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in coin-controlled vending machines, its object being to provide an improved machine, simple in construction and operation, adapted particularly for the delivery of cards, en-

velops, and the like.

To that end the invention consists in the construction combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a rear elevation of the machine with the back wall 1 of the casing and someof the card carrying tion on line ma; of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the lower sprocket wheels; Fig. 4: is a perspective view of one of the traveling card holders; Fig. 5 is a detail of the pivoted wheel stop; Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the machine with the upper portion broken away; Fig. '7 is a fraglnental perspective view of the slotted deck and cross bars, with the double slots in coin receiving relation; Fig. 8 is a similar view of the fixed and sliding slotted cross bars in normal or coin-receiving position. holding 31 inserted coin; Fig. 9 is a similar view with the sliding bar moved into position to bring the slots in the bars into sidewise registration; Fig. 10 is a similar view with the sliding bar sprung back to normal position with the inserted coin; Fig. 1.1 is a perspective fragmental view of the slotted bars and associated parts in normal position; Figs. 12 and 13 are top and front views, respectively, of the same; Fig. 1 1 is a perspective view of the coin pan; Fig. 15 is a perspective view of the card ejector; Figs. 16 and 17 are fragmental top and front views, respectively, of the'part of the slotted part of the deck-rib; Fig. 18 is a perspective view of a fragment of the cross bars, wherein the fixed bar alone is slotted; Figs. 19 and 20 are top and front fragmental views, re spectively, of the single slotted bars; and Fig. 21 is a fragmental front view of the sar'newith the coin stop "lower down.

Inthe drawings A represents the. casing which the card carrier is visible. The casing is formed at the bottom with a forwardly projecting portion which has a front wall 3 and a slanting deck 4; which is slotted to receive the coins, as hereinafter described.

Journaled within the casing are two spaced pairs of wheels or sprockets, each pair comprising an upper wheel 5 and a lower wheel 6, over which pass the chains 7 which carry the card holders B. The card I of the machine and 2 the glass front through i Be it known that I, JOHN 1V. MARIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Red I holders are pivotally suspended from the chains at suitable intervals by means of laterally projecting rods 8, which are carried by the card holders at their upper ends, and pass through or otherwise engage the links of the chains. The lower wheel 6 is formed with an annular flange 9 provided at intervals with notches 10 to receive the projecting ends of the studs or rods 8, whereby to form a sprocket and chain connection. The notches are spaced apart at such angular distances that, the are between them will be equal to the length of the chain between the pivot rods 8 of two successive card holders.- The card holders are held under elastic forward pressure by means of a spring pressed bar 11 pivotally hung from a rod 12 supported in the sides of the casing. One end of the axle 13 of the lower wheels projects through the side of the casing and carries an operating crank 14, whereby the lower wheels are turned. to set the chain in motion. On the periphery of the lower wheel 6 are a number of radially projecting pins 15 arranged alternately with the notches, and in position to engage the teeth of a notched or serrated rack 16, which iselastically held to the wheel by means of a spring 17. The notches or serrations are so cut that the pin will ride over the teeth when the wheel is turned in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2, but will be held by the teeth when the wheel is turned in the opposite direction.

The card holder B consists of a frame having along the top a retaining flange 18, and at the bottom an up-turned lip 19, the bottom member and lip being centrally cut away at 20 to allow a clearance for the prongs of the card detacher 21. In the structure shown in the drawings the card holder is constructed to hold two sets of 2 and 4 that the height of the frame is somewhat less thanthat of the cards G to be placed in them, so that the cards will be held bowed or sprung out, whereby to facilitate their detachment by the card detacher.

The deck 4 has on its underside a transverse rib 22, through which as well as through the deck are cut one or more coin receiving slots 23, adapted for the different kinds of coins with which the machine is intended to be used. Pivotally supported in the sides of the casing within the forwardly projecting portion thereof, is a rocking frame, comprising a pair of forwardly and upwardly extending arms 24 and 25, respectively, connected at the top by means of a cross bar 27. The frame is held normally pressed forward so as to bring the bar 27 into registration with the deck rib 22 by means of a spring 20, secured at one end to the arm 24 and resting at the other end upon the bottom of the casing, the spring being coiled intermediately about the pivot 56 upon which the arm 24 turns. The toothed rack bar 16 which is engaged by the pin 15 upon the carrier wheel, is pivotally secured at its forward end to the arm 24, as shown in Fig. 2, so that the rack and rocking frame will move back and forth together.

Having sliding support upon the forward face of the bar 27 by suitable means, such as the slot and pin connection Here shown, is a shifting bar 28, the shifting bar being formed with a longitudinal slot 29 through which a headed pin 30 passes back into the stationary bar 27. The shifting bar is held normally pressed to the right, as shown in Figs. 8 and 11, by means of a coil spring 31, the ends of which extend through a slot in the rib 22 and are fastened, one to the stationary bar 27 and the other to the shifting bar 28. The stationary bar is formed with an open sided slot 32 extending through it from top to bottom to register with the slot 23 in the ribbed deck, while the shifting bar is formed with a similar open sided slot 33. The slots 32 and 33 are open or cut away on their inner or adjacent sides, and register sidewise with each other, when the shifting bar is moved against the tension of the spring 31. to its extreme leftward posit-ion, shown in Fig. 9.

At their right ends the bars 27 and 28 are cut away at the top to form a seat for the guide arm 34, which is pivoted to the side of the casing at 35. The guide has in its underside a longitudinal groove 36 to allow passage for a pin 37 upon the seat portion of the shifting bar 28, while upon its inner side it is beveled to form an inclined cam face 38. The groove grows progressively shallower toward the rear until its emerges from the inclined portion of the guide at the side of the shank thereof, at

which point it is substantially flush with the underside of the guide, whereby, when the rocking frame is drawn toward the interior of the machine, the pin, traveling through the sloping groove 36, will gradually raise the guide until it emerges from the groove near the rear end of the cam face 38, when the guide will drop and present the cam face to the pin. Then, as the rocking frame springs back to its normal position, the pin 37 will travel along the outside of the cam face, and the shifting bar 28 will be forced to the left against the pressure of its spring 31, as shown in Fig. 9.

It will be seen from the drawings that the slots 32 and 33 are intersected by the registering slots 29 in the face of the shifting bar, and 39 in the stationary bar. Rests ing upon the bot-tom of the slots 29 and 39 is a coin pan 40, which extends under both of the coin slots and 33 when the shifting bar is in its normal position, but which is notched or cut away near its left end, as shown at 41, so as not to extend under the slot 33, when the shifting bar is moved to bring this slot into sidewise registration with the slot 32, thereby leaving free passage for the coin to drop through the slot 33 when the bar is in this position. The pan is also formed at its notched end with a short upturned lip 42 which affords a retaining or dividing wall between the two slots when they are in sidewise registration, as best shown in Fig. 9.

The card detacher consists, preferably, of a rectangular wire frame resting at its forward or outer end within the slot 39, and near its inner end upon a transverse rod 44 over which the side wires are bent to form knees 48. These wires terminate at their inner ends in upwardly bent prongs 45 adapted, when the ejector 21 is moved in, to strike and slightly pierce the foremost card C in the card holder. The wire frame 21 is held to the cross bar 27 of the rocking frame by means of a pin 43 set into the bar inside the end wire of the frame 21. Thus the rocking frame, which is under forward pressure from its spring 26, will be held normally in alinement with the deck rib 22, by means of the engagement of the frame 21 with the rod 44 at one end and the pin 43 at the other end.

To catch the card, when it is disengaged from the holder B a sheet metal pan or apron 46 is supported below the card-holder upon an upright wire frame 47 secured at the bottom to the casing. The apron extends downwardly and forwardly toward an opening 51 in the front wall of the casing through which the detached card is discharged from the machine. In order that the apron may surely intercept the card as it is detached by the ejector, the toothed bar 16 is provided with a lateral pin 40, and the arm 25 of the rocking frame with a rearwardly extending arm 50, whereby, when the rocking frame and card ejector ,are moved inwardly to detach a card, the

apron will be thrust back past the card hold er by the pin 49 at one side and the arm 50 at the other side.

It will be seen that when the wheel 6 is reversed and turned back, the pin will engage one of the teeth of the rack bar and draw the bar back until the pin passes the tooth. To prevent the wheel from being turned farther than is necessary to release the pin and bring the card holder into proper relation with the ejector, a stop arm is pivotally supported upon a bracket at the back of the casing in position to intercept the pin. This stop arm is held normally in the path of the pin by means of a spring 53, which allows the stop to yield when the pin passes it in the opposite direction.

In order to prevent the machine from working when too small a coin is used, the

slot 23 in the rib 22 is partly cut away uponits forward side, as shown in Figs. 16 and 17, whereby to let the small coin drop for wa-rdly out of. the slot 23 before it has passed down into the slot 32 in the stationary bar 27, this being made possible by the fact that the rocking frame and slots extend down at an incline, instead of vertically. Upon the inside of the front wall 3 of the casing is a receptacle to receive the coins from the slots.

The purpose of the two coacting slots 32 and 33 is to delay the release of the coin until the rocking frame and card detacher have been actuated twice, whereby two cards can be detached for a single coin. In the structure shown in the drawings the rocking frame has also at one side a single slot 57,.whereby one card only will be detached for a single coin. This slot, like the slot 32, is notched into the forward side of the fixed bar 27 adjacent to the shifting bar 28, which works across the open side thereof, as shown in Fig. 19. This slot like the slots 32 and 33 is intersected by a slot 29, in which rests a card detacher 21, held there by a pin 43. Carried by the shifting bar is a stop pin 58 which normally projects into the slot- 57 in the fixed bar, whereby to hold the coin from dropping through the coin slot 57 when the shifting bar is in normal position. When the shifting bar is forced to the left, however, after a card has been detached, the pin will be carried past the coin slot and into a groove 59 in the fixed bar, and leave the coin free to drop. In Fig. 21 the pin 58 is shown placed far enough down to enable two coins to enter the coin slot. In this case two coins must be inserted before the card can be detached.

In operation, the parts will stand normally in the position shown in Figs. 2, 8, and 11. The crank 14 is then turned to bring-the desired card into view at the bottom of the glass facing, the pin 15 riding over the stop 52 and the teeth in the rack arm 16. If it is desired to detach two cards for a single coin, a coin of the required denomination is dropped into the slot 23. The coin will lodge upon the pan just outside the back member of the card detacher, for which it will form an abutment, as shown in Fig. 8. The crank is then turned in reverse direction to carry the pin 15 backward against the adjacent tooth of the rack arm 16, whereby the rack arm will be drawn rearward, and will draw wit-h it the rocking frame, turning the same upon its pivotal connections with the sides of the casing. As the bars 27 and 28 are thus moved in, the pin 37 will travel through the groove 36 in the guide 34, while the card detacher abutting against the inserted coin, will be thrust in toward the card holder until its points 45 engage and slightly pierce the bowed out card near the lower part thereof, at the same time lifting it so that it will spring over the retaining flanges 19 and drop into the apron 46 below, whence it will slide out through the passage 51. In the meantime the pin 15 will have passed the tooth in therack bar 16, and, the bar being thus released, the rocking frame will spring back under the action of the spring 26 into its normal position shown in Fig. 2. As it moves back, the pin 37, which is now out of the groove 36, will travel along the cam face 38, whereby the shifting bar 28 will be forced left-wise into the position shown in Fig. 9, and the coin slots 32 and 33 will come into sidewise registration. By reason of the inclined direction of the slots the upper part of the coin will tilt over against the forward side of the slot 33 in the shifting bar, while the lower part of the coin will be held on the pan 40 by means of the lip 42. hen the rocking frame has moved forward sufficiently for the pin 37 to clear the forward end of the guide arm 34, which it will be observed, does not extend beyond the outer face of the fixed bar, the shifting bar will spring to the rlght and carry the coin past the slot 32, as shown in Fig. 10. The coin will now be held entirely within the slot 33 in the shifting bar. The crank arm is then turned forwardly a short distance, and then reversed so as to carry the rocking frame rearward a second time to detach another card. When now the rocking frame springs out again, the shifting bar will be moved leftwise by the cam 38 as before, and will carry the coin, which 18 now entirely in the slot 33, opposite the slot 32, when it will drop through the notched portion 41 of the pan 40 into the receptacle 54 below. In case of the single slot 57, the operation will be the same eX- cept that the cycle is complete in one forward and backward movement of the rocking frame. When the rack 16v isreleased from the pin 15 and the rocking frame springs forward, the shifting bar, moving leftwise, will carry the stud 58 out from under the coin and permit the same to drop through the slot, as above described.

It will be seen that the card detacher cannot be actuated unless there is a coin in one of the coin slots, for it is the coin which abuts against the back of the detacher and forces the detacher to move in with the rocking frame.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a coin controlled vending machine, the combination with an article holder, of an ejector adapted to be moved toward and away from the holder, a movable frame adapted to hold the coin in position to engage and move the ejector a predetermined number of times in as many successive in ward movements of the frame, and a shifting bar movable transversely of the frame and co-acting with it to effect the release of the coin upon the return of the frame after said predetermined number of inward strokes. v

2. In a coin controlled vending machine, the combination with an article holder, of a coin carrying frame movable toward and away from the article holder, said frame having a fixed cross bar slotted to receive a coin and a shifting bar movable transversely across the face of the fixed bar and cooperating with the fixed bar to hold the coin with in the slot, an ejector engaged and carried by the frame in outward movements of the frame and engaged and moved by the coin in inward movements of the frame, means for reciprocating the shifting bar at each reciprocation of the frame, and means un-- der the control of the shifting bar for releasing the coin at a predetermined outward movement of the frame.

3. In a coin controlled vending machine, the (fOl'IllJllItttlOll with an article holder, of an ejector adapted to be moved toward and away from the holder, and means for actuating the ejector twice with the same coin comprising a movable frame adapted to hold a coin in position to engage and move the ejector twice in two successive inward movements of the frame, and a shifting bar movable transversely of the frame and coacting with it to effect the release of the coin upon the return of the frame after its second inward stroke.

t. In a coin controlled vending machine, the combination with an article holder, of an ejector and a coin carrying frame movable toward and away from the holder, said frame having a fixed cross bar and a transversely shifting bar movably mounted on the face of the fixed bar, said bars being horizontally slotted to receive slidingly one end of the ejector, and being formed in their adjacent faces with open sided inclined coin slots intersecting said horizontal slots, said coin slots bearing a staggered relation to each other when the shifting bar is in no1= mal position, but registering sidewise with each other when said bar is shifted in the return travel of the frame, and being adapted to hold a coin in position to engage and move the ejector twice in two successive inward movements of the frame.

5. In a coin controlled vending machine, the combination with an article holder, of an ejector and coin carrying frame movable toward and away from the article holder, said frame having a fixed cross bar and a shifting bar movable across the face of the fixed bar, said bars being formed in their adjacent faces with open sided slots bearing a staggered relation to each other when the shifting bar is in normal position, but registering sidewise with each other when said bar is shifted in the return travel of said frame, said slots being adapted to hold a coin in position to engage and move the ejector in each inward movement of the frame, and to release the coin after a predetermined number of such movements.

6. In a coin controlled vending machine, the combination with an article holder, of an ejector adapted to be moved toward and away from the holder, a movable spring controlled coin carrying frame normally held sprung away from said holder, said frame having a fixed cross bar and a spring controlled. shifting bar movable across the face of the fixed bar, and the ejector having sliding support in said bars, and means ongaged by the shifting bar in the return travel of the frame for moving the shifting bar against the tension of its spring, said bars being formed in their adjacent faces with open sided inclined coin slots in position to register sidewise with each other when the shifting bar is moved against the pressure of its spring, and being adapted to hold a coin in position to move the ejector twice in two successive inward movements of the frame.

7. In a coin controlled vending machine, the combination with an article holder, of an ejector andv coin carrying frame movable. toward and away from the holder, said frame being horizontally slotted to receive the ejector and having a fixed cross bar and also a spring controlled shifting bar mov ably supported on the face of the fixed bar, said bars being formed in their adjacent faces with open sided inclined slots in position to register sidewise with each other when the shifting bar is moved against the pressure of its spring, and a coin pan intersecting both of said. slots when the shifting bar is in normal position, but having a notch registering with the slot in the shifting bar when said bar is moved against the pressure of its spring, the pan being formed with a short up-turned retaining lip between said notch and the slot in the fixed bar, and the coin slots being adapted to hold a coin in position to move the ejector twice in two successive inward movements of the frame, but to allow' the coin to drop through said notch after the second inward movement of the frame.

8. In a coin controlled vending machine, the combination with an article holder, of a spring controlled coin carrying frame movable toward and away from the holder, an ejector slidably supported in the frame, said frame having a fixed cross bar and a spring controlled shifting bar movably mounted upon the face of the fixed bar, said fixed bar being formed with a slot to hold a coin in position to engage and move the ejector, and means for holding the coin from dropping through the slot until the shifting bar has been moved against the pressure of its spring on the return movement of the frame.

9. In a coin controlled vending machine, the combination with an article holder, of a spring controlled coin carrying frame movable toward the article holder, said frame having a fixed cross bar slotted to receive a coin and a spring controlled shifting bar movably mounted upon the face of the fixed bar and coacting with the fixed bar to Copies of this patent may be obtained for hold the coin within the slot, an ejector engaged and carried by the fixed bar in outward movements of the frame and engaged and moved by the coin in inward movements of the frame, and a cam pivotally mounted on the casing in position to engage and move the shifting bar against the pressure of its spring in outward movements of the frame, whereby to release the coin.

10. In a coin controlled vending machine having a. forwardly extending deck, the combination with an article holder, of a spring controlled coin carrying frame movable toward the article holder and normally held sprung forward at an incline, the deck and frame being formed with normally communicating coin slots, and the slot in the deck being inclined and partly cut away in its forward side whereby to release too small a coin before the same passes into the slot .in the frame, and an ejector adapted to be engaged by a coin in the frame slot and carried inwardly with the frame.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses. I

JOHN W. MABIN.

\Vitnesses WM. M. ERICSON, S. S. PEAKE.

five cents each, by addrening the Commhlioner of Intent:-

Washington, D. C." i 

